Leveraging the Green
AS the Government alongside energy stakeholders outline ambitious targets for Jamaica’s energy future, financing remains a significant obstacle.
Edison Galbraith, general manager, channels, relationships and marketing at the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), said his agency is working overtime to secure funding for the renewable energy sector.
Speaking at the recent
Jamaica Observer Business Webinar, Galbraith said, “The DBJ is working with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to unlock funding in various forms for Jamaica and we’re working with fund managers and financial markets to mobilise funding.”
The Green Climate Fund is a fund established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as an operating entity of the financial mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. The GCF is based in Incheon, South Korea.
So far, Galbraith disclosed that countries have been tapping the GCF to advance their renewable energy ambitions. He said Jamaica is also seeking to tap those resources.
“Several countries have been able to tap the resources of that fund, both getting grants as well as debt financing and assistance to implement programmes to reduce their carbon emissions and their carbon footprint.”
Research conducted by the
Jamaica Observer revealed there are currently four GCF supported projects in Jamaica but the GCF has listed seven activities it is ready to provide support for.
According to information posted on the GCF website, the total funding allocated to Jamaica is US$30 million, however only US$3.1 million has been approved so far with an even smaller amount of US$1.4 million being disbursed.
Majority of the disbursed funds or US$1.1 million is a grant from the GCF to commence preparation of Jamaica’s first National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
President of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) Theresa Rodriguez-moodie believes more funding is needed.
“I think there needs to be more. And it’s not just funding for adaptation and mitigation, it’s funding needed for loss and damage. It’s like one step forward, two steps backward whenever you try and build these projects and then you have an event that is unprecedented because of climate change. I do believe that the developed nations need to be providing more funding for these types of projects,” she noted.
At the same time, she cautioned, “Our Government needs to ensure that the decisions they are making are not going to be counter-productive to the funding they are seeking to build resilience.”
The environmental lobbyist argued “when you turn around and you give approvals to destroy lovely mangroves in Green Island [Hanover] to build a hotel, mangroves are important to mitigation and adaptation too. We’ll turn around and talk about environmental protection after we’ve destroyed the mangroves.”
But progress is being made. Moodie pointed out “we’re doing a lot of work and we’re doing good work in terms of climate change and the adaptation and mitigation projects, we’re trying to support communities and organisations to also do these climate works and studies. It’s important work and I’m not discounting that. I think it’s equally important that we pay attention to how we go about doing environmental development and management. We have to work together, we can’t be focusing on climate change adaptation and doing those projects, getting funding for that while making decisions that are counter.”
Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC), Senator Matthew Samuda, recently travelled to Incheon in the Republic of Korea to represent Jamaica at the second GCF Global Programming Conference 2022.
His aim was to outline how the GCF can ensure that funding reaches the most vulnerable in Jamaica while untapping the potential of investments in the blue economy through streamlined mechanisms, in line with national development priorities.
GCF is disbursed across four transitions — built environment; energy & industry; human security, livelihoods and well-being; and land use, forests and ecosystems.
“Across the world there are programmes that do basic things such as energy access moving people from chopping wood, burning and inhaling the fumes, putting in renewable plants, financing